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Shivamogga Lok Sabha member B.Y. Raghavendra, on Thursday, met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi and appealed to her to take steps for the rejuvenation of Visvesaraya Iron and Steel Plant at Bhadravati by investing funds through the Steel Authority of India.
Mr. Raghavendra, who is taking part in the Parliament session, met the Minister and thanked her for terminating the strategic disinvestment process of VISP at Bhadravathi. And, he insisted that the plant be rejuvenated with investment through the SAIL, considering the workforce available.
VISP Workers Union president J.Jagadish was also present on the occasion. The workers have been demanding the rejuvenation of the plant, set up by Wadiyars of Mysuru in 1923. At one point the plant had over 13,000 employees and it produced 2.2 lakh tonnes of hot metal per year. In recent years, production came down drastically, prompting the Centre to go for disinvestment.
At present, there are 280 permanent employees and 1,340 labourers on temporary basis are working.
The Cabinet had given clearance for strategic disinvestment of VISP in October 2016. An expression of interest (EOI) was issued on July 4, 2019. The disinvestment was annulled with a notification on October 12, this year due to insufficient bidder interest.
